Fair or not, most any conversation about USC running back Stephen Carr always invariably finds its way back to his freshman season in 2017 and what he showed before the first of the injuries took its toll.

Carr has never been all that interested in viewing his Trojans career through that same prism, though, and he wasn't going to start Tuesday morning as he joined reporters on a Zoom call to look ahead to his senior season.

Specifically, he was asked what the mental challenge has been for him the last couple years knowing the standard and expectations he set in his first few games and trying to chase it since.

"It’s not necessarily trying to chase it. I would say it’s trying to be the better version of myself every year, no matter what goes on in my life, or goes on on or off the field. Just trying to be a better version of myself," Carr said.

Well, the USC coaches have made quite an emphasis this preseason to suggest that Carr might just be the best version of himself this camp.

RELATED: More notes on USC's RBs, including health updates on Markese Stepp and Vavae Malepeai

Head coach Clay Helton said it on Monday, commenting matter-of-factly, "He's had his best camp to date."

And running backs coach Mike Jinks echoed those sentiments Tuesday.

"Stephen Carr looks great. He looks as good as he’s ever been since I’ve been here," Jinks said. "Just to give you an example, that was a tough [hamstring] injury he had to try and come back from. Just looking at his vertical yesterday, getting the reports from the strength staff, it’s increased 5-6 inches. You can see it. You can see his explosion on the football field. And just from a mental standpoint, he’s focused and ready to take his game to a whole 'nother level, even beyond where it was when he got here as a highly-touted freshman."

See, it always comes back to that freshman season.

As a refresher, Carr figured to be a distant secondary option at that time in a backfield featuring established star Ronald Jones II -- the future NFL second-round draft pick now carving out a nice role with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And yet Carr was grabbing his share of the spotlight with every opportunity he got.

-7 carries for 69 yards and 2 touchdowns (plus 23 receiving yards) in his first game against Western Michigan

-11 carries for 119 yards the next week against Stanford

-70 total yards vs. Texas the following week

-And 129 combined rushing and receiving yards with a TD at Cal

Then came the injuries. First, a sprained right ankle that effectively derailed the rest of that season, as he'd have just 18 more carries after that blazing hot start. Then he missed the spring of 2018 following offseason back surgery.

He managed 384 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns over nine games in 2018 before spraining that right ankle again and cutting short his sophomore season, while his yards per carry dropped from 5.6 to 4.7.

A left hamstring injury late last season cost him three more games, but he did raise his yards per carry back to 5.5 while finishing with a career-best 396 rushing yards, 143 receiving yards and 6 total TDs.

The numbers show that Carr was plenty productive last fall playing his role in a crowded backfield, and yet the fans continued to say the eye test still didn't match that incredible start two years earlier.

But if the coaches are accurate with their assessment of what Carr is showing this preseason (camp is closed to the media due to COVID-19 protocols), then could the best still be yet to come for the senior running back?

"Mentally, I feel way more stronger," Carr said. "Coach Jinks is preparing us to be prepared on the field from all angles. I feel like if you understand everything that’s going on around you, it’s easier to do your job. I’m feeling excited about this year. ...

"And personally I just want to be more physical this year. That's really the only thing on my mind. I feel like the college world has seen a lot of what I can do when it comes to catching the ball out of the backfield, making people miss. And I'm trying to show up a little bit more when it comes to pass protection. I'm trying to make that a huge emphasis. So just physicality this year -- that's my only goal."

To that point, when he was recapping the Saturday scrimmage with reporters on Monday morning, Helton shared some insight on Carr that caught everyone's attention immediately.

"He's a guy that can make you miss, as we have seen, in open space. On [the first full pads practice Wednesday] it was, I'm gonna pound the ball if it's between the tackles and I'm gonna show you my physicality. And that's what I'm seeing from him right now and applauding him," Helton said. "He did it again Saturday with the exception of one time. I immediately went up to him and I said, 'Don't go back because you're running as good as I've ever seen you running.'

"I'm hoping that he'll keep that physicality of learning how to take that one cut and get north and then use that crossover move that he makes people miss [with], as you know a great boxer does -- jab, jab, jab, jab and then knockout. That's what I'm hoping he'll continue to do, but he's had a wonderful camp thus far."

If fans weren't wondering aloud whether the injuries had sapped Carr of the extra burst he showed as a freshman, they were often grumbling about his proclivity to dance too much in the backfield trying to set up a big play but too often resulting in him being taken down near the line of scrimmage.

So the notion that he's fully embracing becoming more of a north-south runner was a notable nugget, and it was reiterated Tuesday by both Carr and Jinks.

"I [was] watching old film, watching old games, seeing things that I didn't do, seeing things that I did do good. And I would say some of it came from watching Ronald Jones, his old clips. I would watch some of his clips before I go out to practice," Carr said, bringing things full circle to his freshman year in a way himself. "... He's a huge role model to me. The way he hits the hole is in stride, you know what I mean, so I try to take after his game a little bit."

Said Jinks: "I'm just gonna echo what Stephen said there. We got together and we kind of talked about RoJo a little bit and [Alvin] Kamara with the Saints. That's his growth as a young man. He wanted and was looking for young guys to study and how he can make himself better. Again, a testament to him, he's gone out and applied it. It's been really impressive, to be honest with you, to watch him move around this camp."

Jinks later expanded the point on the north-south emphasis as something he's preaching with all his running backs.

"The biggest thing is that we want to be one-cut runners, we want to be violent when we have the football in our hand. What I don't want to do is have them think that the answer to [facing tough defenses] is more spin moves, more jump cuts, you know what I mean. We want to take it to our opponent, and you do that by being decisive," he said.

This would have set up as a make-or-break year for Carr, a final chance to put it all together for the NFL scouts and script the desired ending to his USC career as a senior, but with the NCAA granting all fall sports athletes an eligibility extension, Carr has the option of returning next year if he desires.

He indicated Tuesday that he hasn't given that any thought one way or the other yet.

"Me, personally, not too much," he said. "I don't try thinking too much about all of that extra stuff. We've got a season to play, we still have practice to go to today. I feel like getting caught up in all that madness is just going to take us away from our purpose and what our main goal is. I feel like that's a decision or something to think about after everything's already taken care of."

That sounds like a guy who is hoping to do enough this fall to set himself up with an NFL decision in the offseason.

Whatever the driving force, Carr started channeling the motivation a while ago, first working himself all the way back to peak health in the months after last season ended.

If there was another injury aside from the significant hamstring strain he had to overcome, it was not made clear. Carr did return from that injury late last season and rushed for 87 yards and a TD on 11 carries vs. UCLA, adding in a 21-yard reception, but the way he described his offseason Tuesday makes it sound like something still was not right at that point.

"You had to get creative [during the pandemic]. You had to get real creative. I trained with Tyler Vaughns a whole lot. Me and him tried to stay on schedule. I got a couple track workouts in, just to make sure my form was right. I had to relearn how to run again, so that was a fun process to go through," Carr said.

By all accounts, he is feeling good and looking good this preseason.

But there is another obstacle in his way to a big senior season, and to some degree it's out of his control.

The running back group is the deepest unit on the team now -- potentially.

After being wrecked by injuries last season, which allowed then-freshman Kenan Christon to enjoy his own rookie breakout, the Trojans figured to have four proven running backs vying for touches this year.

And that may still be the case, but redshirt senior Vavae Malepeai (the leading rusher last season with 503 yards and 6 TDs) is working through a hamstring injury, and redshirt sophomore Markese Stepp is still not fully 100 percent back to top form from his season-ending ankle injury and surgery, "but he's pretty dang close," Jinks said.

Eventually, it stands to reason all four of those guys will be healthy at the same time -- maybe even for the Nov. 7 season opener. And when that happens, it will be a tough balance for Jinks as all four surely expect to play a significant role after what they've established to this point in their careers.

For Jinks, that's a puzzle that will come together in due time.

"Right now where we are is each and every day we're trying to find a way to improve. There will come a time for that," he said. "They've shown that they can all be an every-down back, so it's kind of not one of those situations where I want to just roll one in on third downs, this, that or the other. We're going to continue to compete and the hot one or the hot two or three will be the guys out there playing."

That goes for Carr too -- Jinks likes what he's seen so far, and as USC fans can probably share the sentiment, he just wants to see it continue consistently.

"It's been really impressive, to be honest with you, to watch him move around this camp," Jinks said. "And again, we gotta continue to grow and continue to stack days and weeks together, but I'm looking forward to the season."

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